After solving the problem of the relocation of Zhuang households in the upper reaches of the West River, Shang Cheng did not go back to Zhongzhai immediately, but went to Shangzhai to inspect the border military affairs. The border army stationed in Shangzhai is undergoing a routine change of guard every year, and the newly stationed soldiers are the sentry led by Sun Zhongshan. These are veterans who have experienced the battlefield with arrogance and arrogance, and some of them look down on the border soldiers of Ximazhi, and it is said that they have had dirty and friction with the original team of Shangzhai. Of course, Shang Cheng has not received any written report on this aspect so far; He only heard a few words from his subordinates. But he was still not at ease, so he simply took the opportunity to coordinate the relationship between the two sentinels.

As it turned out, he was completely in vain. Although the two sentinels in Shangzhai are not as close as a family, they can be regarded as harmonious. After questioning the officers who were surprised by his arrival, he learned that things and rumors were not the same thing. The so-called "dirty" is nothing more than someone taking an extra piece of bread when everyone is eating, and "friction" is that more than a dozen soldiers are involved in a fist and foot battle for that piece of cake; The guy who stole his mouth was beaten with ten sticks, and the soldiers who participated in the gladiatorial fight received five whips, and the dispute over the use of knives in the "supposed" has long since disappeared......

However, Shang Cheng didn't feel that he had run for nothing.

Compared with what he saw when he came to the military village a few years ago, Shangzhai has completely changed its appearance now. First of all, the appearance of the soldiers has been greatly improved, and the two months of sufficient food and drink have made the soldiers' faces see flesh, and all of them are full of red light, coupled with new cotton jackets, new uniforms, and well-maintained weapons. The second is that the inside and outside of the barracks have become tidy, and the garbage littered everywhere can no longer be seen; The two hill-high garbage heaps outside the gate were also moved to dig and fill in the pits in the distance according to his orders. Two new wells in the stockade have been dug into a hole; Another hole also saw a small stream of spring water two days ago, and now it is continuing to drill down under the guidance of the master who drilled the well. As for the pond he originally planned to build, it had already been vetoed by Jiang Shuban. Jiang Shuban believes that there is no garrison tuntian in Shangzhai, and several border households have no farming, and the two new wells are enough for daily use, and the construction of water storage ponds is purely depletion. Shang Cheng also felt that Jiang Shuban's words were reasonable, so he canceled the plan to repair the pond.

After dinner that night, while chatting and talking with several Shangzhai officers, he also told them the main content of the border army military meeting that he had just attended in Beizheng. Although he did not finish the meeting, he understood the most important content: as early as this spring, or as late as next summer, the imperial court will go to war with the Turks; It would be a big battle, and a portion of the frontier army would be sent to assist the army in the conquest of the Turks. Because the West Malaysia Zhibian Army may also be transferred, the commander of the North Zheng Border Army, Si Yamen, asked all departments to do two things, one is to strengthen training, and the other is to strengthen vigilance......

He only stayed in Shangzhai for one night, and then hurried back again. In addition to the official affairs waiting for him to deal with in the yamen, he was also worried about his private affairs one by one When he held a meeting in Beizheng, he had found the commander of the border army and the yamen of the Weifu in Beizheng, and he told them that he still hoped to return to the guards; As long as he can return to the Guards, he doesn't care about his position, even if he is transferred to be a battalion captain of the Guards, he doesn't care, as long as he can lead the troops to fight. But neither the border army nor the Wei government gave him a satisfactory answer on the spot, they all said that they would report his ideas to the higher yamen, and before that, he must be patient, and he must not relax in the military affairs of Ximazhi. When he talked to the chief secretary of the Weifu Yamen who came forward to receive him, he heard a layer of meaning, compared with transferring him back to the guards, the Weifu Yamen hoped that he could officially take over the post of direct commander of West Malaysia.

On the way back to Zhongzhai, he was still worried about it. Alas, it seems that his hope of returning to the Guard is getting slimmer and slimmer, and perhaps for a long time to come, he will have to deal with all kinds of account books, and it will be not the soldiers but the farmers who need him to worry more about, the crops in the fields, the water in the wells, and the food in the people's bowls......

On the way, he turned to the river to inspect the wells, ponds, and cofferdams that had been built and put into use, and by the time he rushed back to Zhongzhai, it was already noon on March 24.

He didn't even change his clothes and went to his office first. As he expected, there was no order on the table, except for two expired military newspapers and a few official documents waiting for him to see and sign.

A sense of loss welled up in his heart. He looked at the dusty beams for a long time. His wife's warm face was now in front of his eyes again, and she was staring at him with expression. There are also Uncle Zhuzi, Shan Wazi, Fan Xiang, and Fifth Brother...... Familiar faces passed by him. He covered his face in pain. In the silence, he could clearly hear his own beeping heartbeat and heavy breathing......

It wasn't until the orderly brought his lunch that he forced himself to return from his memory to reality.

While eating a simple lunch, he held back his tiredness and read through official documents and military newspapers one by one.

There was nothing worth paying attention to in the military newspaper, and I read it quickly. Most of the official documents are ordinary correspondence or volumes, which he signs and seals when he can deal with them immediately, and he signs and seals them when they should be distributed, and he picks out and puts aside the things that cannot be decided at the moment, and is ready to carefully consider them when the matter at hand is over.

In the end, he finally saw something that lifted his spirits. The only bandit who escaped the net in Dujiadian was arrested in Yanzhou, and the Yanzhou government government sent a letter asking whether the prisoner needed to be transferred to Ximazhi, and if not, whether Ximazhi had any suggestions for the handling of the criminal.

He immediately wrote his opinion in this official document: "Send a special person to escort the prisoner back to West Malaysia on the same day." Killing. Then he called the orderly and asked him to hand over the official document to the clerk of the criminal department immediately.

After a while, the clerk's office of the Criminal Division came over with the paperwork. Because Shang Cheng's proposed disposition was in conflict with the law, he could not agree, and according to the criminal law of Da Zhao, the prisoner could only be sentenced to "100 rods, three months of shackles, and 3,000 miles in prison".

Shang Cheng frowned and asked the Criminal Division Clerk's Office: "He is a bandit, there is no doubt about this, right?" ”

"Yes." The scrivener replied. This is a case that has been verified by the Yanzhou government, and the identity and facts of the prisoner are clear, and the prisoner is indeed a bandit who has slipped through the net.

"How long has it been between the bandits in Dujiadian and his arrest?"

The clerk was a little surprised why his boss suddenly turned the problem to this, but he still tacitly replied: "Less than five months." ”

Shang Cheng held a handkerchief in his hand, stared at the criminal department clerk's office without blinking with two bloodshot eyes, and asked slowly: "In five months, why didn't he surrender?" ”

With such a sharp question, the Criminal Division Scrivener Office didn't know how to answer it at all. But he also did not agree with Shang Cheng's rough treatment. He could not convince his superiors, and he was unwilling to carry out the obviously wrong orders of his superiors, so he stood in front of the table for a long time before saying: "If the adult deals with it like this, the official and the criminal department will find trouble for the adult." That's the best reason he could find right now. Shang Cheng's handling of prisoners in this way is obviously an excessive sentence, and if a "sentence is too heavy" or "a sentence is too light", if it is found out, it will be reduced by one grade in performance appraisals.

A smile appeared on the corner of Shang Cheng's mouth, and he nodded and said, "I know." He lowered his blindfold to cover his right eye, turned his gaze around his subordinate's expressionless face, and then floated to the door, and said quietly: "But I still know that the evil is all over the place." If evil is not eliminated, good cannot be promoted. You go and go and go back one by one, and I will note your opinion in the case file, but for now you have to do what I instruct. He thought for a moment and then said, "If you don't want to do this, you can say it, and I'll let someone else do it." ”

The criminal department clerk gritted his teeth, put the official document on the table, and said, "Then please ask your Excellency to send another person." ”

Shang Cheng was also surprised when he saw that he was really going to let go, his eyes wandered back and forth between the official document and the criminal department clerk's office, and he tensed his lips and nodded: "It's okay." You go and call Guan Xian. ”

After he explained to Guan Xian about going to Yanzhou to pick up prisoners, he continued to run his official business. He took a piece of paper that he had just put aside, and slowly flipped through it. This is a summary made by the secretary of the household department, which records in detail the progress of water conservancy projects in several villages in the upper reaches of the West River, and lists the detailed accounts of various expenditures. And the month of the month must be prepared in advance; There are also subsidies for the relocated farmers, resettlement fees, money for livestock chewing, seed grain, and ......

A large amount of data made Shang Cheng dizzy. These numbers are like a horde of money-eating monsters flying and raging in front of him, and the open mouth is like a bottomless pit!

Money! Money! This old Jiang knows how to ask for money! He didn't even want to think about it, where is the money? I even took out part of the subsidy for the border army to subsidize the project, where else can I get money?

He rubbed his temples in worry, trying to figure out what else he could do to get the money.

But he's really at a loss. All the movable living money has been used, his own Yulu has been put in, Bao Kan's Yulu has also been filled in by him half forced and half persuaded, and even Bao Kan's daughter-in-law who is ready to ask for his mother-in-law has been deceived by him into lending half of it, where else can he find money? He can't go to a big family like the Guan family to borrow it, right? He knew that as long as he opened his mouth for money, it would definitely be fine. But what can I do to repay the borrowed money? Taxes in border areas like Ximazhi are pitifully small, and most of the military expenditure depends on local support, and it is barely enough to support itself by relying on the appropriation of funds from above. If he borrows money from a large account, what year and month will he be able to repay the money? Even if what the yamen does is for the good of everyone, it can't let private people suffer......

He couldn't come up with a good idea. That's when he heard someone knocking on the door outside the house. He sighed in annoyance, threw Lao Jiang's paperwork on the table, and said, "The door is not closed, please come in." ”

Looking at the door that was pushed open, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: Could the people who came in also ask him for money?